Coiler



June 13, 1967 EST 3,324,515

COILER Filed May 12, 1966 3,324,515 COILER Paul Bemis West, Clemson, S.C., assigno to Maremont Corporation, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Filed May 12, 1966, Ser. No. 549,532 4 Claims. (Cl. 119-159) This invention relates to textile machinery and more particularly to an improved coiler mechanism whereby textile fibers in the form of a sliver are laid into a can.

In certain textile machines whose end products comprise textile fibers in sliver form, such as a drawing frame for example, there is generally provided a coiler mechanism to deposit the sliver in a can as the final step in the machine operation. conventionally, this coiler mechanism consists of a tube gear having a large diameter smooth fiat bottom surface and a surrounding stationary pressure plate having its bottom surface disposed in the plane of the bottom surface of the gear to expose the entire bottom surface of the gear. The gear is rotated about a vertical central axis and carries an inclined tube having its outlet end disposed above an orifice or passage through the gear and its bottom surface. The inlet end of the gear is disposed beneath a pair of delivery rolls to feed the sliver to the tube. As the tube gear rotates, the sliver is conducted through the tube to the orifice formed in the gear whence it is deposited in overlapping coils which are of adiameter somewhat greater than half of the diameter of the can. Such coiling produces a coiled mass with a. central axial hole with the greatest mass of the overlapping coils of sliver located adjacent the central hole. As a result, at the latter stages of the can filling operation with the coiled sliver in contact with the overlying bottom surfaces of the pressure plate and the tube gear, the coiled sliver adjacent the central hole is subjccted to greater pressure than is that further away from the center toward the peripheral edge of the can. For this reason, the relative rotation of the coiled sliver and the tube gear causes a substantial degree of misalignment of fibers of the coiled sliver in the area subjected to such higher pressures and so affects the quality of the yarn produced from such sliver.

Accordingly, it is a major object of the present invention to eliminate such fiber misalignment by providing a coiler tube gear structure capable of producing a much more uniform pressure on the coiled sliver in contact with it.

This I have accomplished by means of a coiler tube gear having a smooth c'oncavely upwardly dished bottom surface at least in the central portion thereof extending for a major portion of the radius of the exposed bottom of the tube gear. Preferably, a generally fiat annular rim portion through which the sliver orifice extends is provided around the dished surface.

The novel features of this invention, together with further objects and advantages thereof, will become more readily apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention wherein reference will be had to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of the coiler mechanism in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the coiled sliver with the tube gear superposed thereabove.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be observed that the coiler mechanism includes a tube gear 12 which is caused to rotate about a vertical aXis by means of a pinion (not shown). A stationary pressure plate 30 surrounds the tube gear and has its bottom surface disposed substantially in the plane of the bottom surface of the gear to expose the entire bottom surface of the gear. Afiixed to the tube gear is a housing 16 adapted pivotally to support an inclined tube 14. To this end, there is 3,324,515 Patented June 13, 1967 clamped to the tube 14, at an intermediate point lengthwise thereof, a collar member 15 which is provided with a yoke in the form of a pair of depending portions astride the housing 16. A shaft 17, horizontally mounted by the housing, serves pivotally to mount the collar 15 and hence the tube 14, as shown. A pair of delivery rolls 18 and 19 are disposed about the receiving end of the tube to draw the sliver through a trumpet 20. Disposed below the lower or outlet end of the tube there is an orifice 21 through the tube gear 12 from which the sliver is deposited in coils in the can 10.

Gear 12 has an up-turned rim which carries the gear teeth 27, and above the teeth there is a circumferential race or groove 28 having a smooth concave surface. Angularly spaced about the periphery of the gear are four circular rollers 29 having convex peripheral surfaces in rolling contact with the surface defining the groove. Rollers 29 are individually mounted for rotation independently of one another on vertically disposed stub shafts 31 affixed to coiler plate 30 to support gear 12. A portion of can 10, in which is collected and coiled the sliver as it issues from the orifice 21 is shown beneath the gear 12, the under surface of the latter being exposed by the provision of a circular opening in pressure plate 30 of diameter slightly larger than that of the gear itself, as is conventional. Roving can 10 is rotated at a somewhat lesser speed than gear 12, although the means whereby this is done have not been shown since they are entirely conventional.

As shown in FIG. 1 there is keyed to shaft 17 interiorly of the housing 16 a pivotal lever 33, mounting at its end remote from the shaft a roller 34. When the tube 14 is in its normal position with its receiving end beneath the delivery rolls 18 and 19, roller 34 is engaged by a plunger 35 which is slidably mounted in the housing 16 and urged towards the roller by a compression spring. The end of the plunger 35 in contact with roller 34 is formed with blade-like edges, and the upper edge, as shown in FIG. 1 rides under the roller. In this way, an over-center device having a toggle-like action is provided which maintains the tube 14 in its normal position under normal operating conditions.

Should the sliver become clogged in the tube, however, the force fed pile-up of sliver at the receiving end of the tube causes the tube to tilt or pivot about the axis of shaft 17 so that the roller 34 rides over the leftward extremity of the plunger 35, thereby passing over center. This frees the plunger, permitting movement thereof to the left, under the influence of the spring whereby an electrical switch is actuated to stop the coiler for clearing of the pile-up by the operator. The above-described coiler'structure, being fully described in Patent Nos. 2,866,232. and 2,983,967 need not be further described herein.

According to the present invention, the bottom surface of tube gear 12 is provided with a smooth concavely upwardly dished central portion 40 extending for the major portion of the radius of the entire bottom surface of the tube gear. The amount of upward relief provided by the dished configuration of central portion 40 need not be great, about one-half to one inch at the deepest point, that is, along the tube gear axis, has been found to be sufficient with the usual tube gear of about one foot diameter to provide a sufiiciently uniform pressure so that misalignment of the fibers of the sliver in the region adjacent the central hole therein is eliminated. Preferably, along the periphery of tube gear 12 is provided an annular flat rim portion having a width somewhat greater than the diameter of orifice 21, with said orifice positioned within said flat rim portion for uniform deposition of the sliver in the can in coiled configuration even when the tube gear bottom surface is pressing downwardly on sliver previously deposited in the can.

In operation, when the can is nearly filled with the coiled sliver in contact with the pressure plate and tube gear, as shown in the drawings, the dished bottom tube gear of the present invention is effective to provide a much more uniform. pressure on the upper end of the coiled sliver by relieving the pressure applied to the major portion of the increased mass of sliver adjacent the central hole of the coiled mass, except for the limited, constantly rotating area of the tube gear rim tangential to the central hole.

Various modifications of the invention within the spirit thereof and the scope of the appended claims will occur to those skilled in the coiler art.

I claim:

1. In a coiler mechanism including a generally horizontal rotatable tube gear with an orifice therein to deposit sliver in a coil and a surrounding stationary pressure plate having its bottom surface disposed substantially in the plane of the bottom surface of said gear surrounding and closely adjacent thereto to expose substantially the entire bottom surface of said gear including said orifice that improvement which consists of providing said tube. gear with a smoothly concavely curved upwardly dished circular bottom surface at least in the central portion thereof extending for a major portion of the radius of said" entire bottom surface with said orifice positioned in said bottom. surface adjacent the outer edge thereof and adjacent the surrounding stationary pressure plate.

2. In a coiler mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein 4 the dimension of the dished tube gear at its deepest point is along the tube gear axis.

3. In a coiler mechanism including a generally horizontal rotatable tube gear with an orifice therein to deposit sliver in a coil and a surrounding stationary pressure plate having its bottom surface disposed substantially in the plane of the bottom surface of said gear surrounding and closely adjacent thereto to expose substantially the entire bottom surface of said gear including said orifice that improvement which consists of providing said tube gear with a smoothly concavely curved upwardly dished circular bottom surface with an annular flat rim portion around said dished bottom surface with said orifice positioned therein adjacent the surrounding stationary pressure plate, the dimension of said dished tube gear at its deepest point being generally along the axis of rotation of the tube gear.

4. In a coiler mechanism as claimed in claim 3, wherein said dimension is about one half to three quarters of an inch.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 12/1964 Austria. 12/1958 France. 

1. IN A COILER MECHANISM INCLUDING A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL ROTATABLE TUBE GEAR WITH AN ORIFICE THEREIN TO DEPOSIT SLIVER IN A COIL AND A SURROUNDING STATIONARY PRESSURE PLATE HAVING ITS BOTTOM SURFACE DISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY IN THE PLANE OF THE BOTTOM SURFACE OF SAID GEAR SURROUNDING AND CLOSELY ADJACENT THERETO TO EXPOSE SUBSTANTIALLY THE ENTIRE BOTTOM SURFACE OF SAID GEAR INCLUDING SAID ORIFICE THAT IMPROVEMENT WHICH CONSISTS OF PROVIDING SAID TUBE GEAR WITH A SMOOTHLY CON- 